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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29364201">On Protons and Poetry</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/meditationsinemergencies/pseuds/meditationsinemergencies'>meditationsinemergencies</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>High School Teachers, Love Fest 2021, M/M, Muggle AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:48:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,174</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29364201</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/meditationsinemergencies/pseuds/meditationsinemergencies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A Muggle AU in which Severus Snape and Remus Lupin teach high school together.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Remus Lupin/Severus Snape</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Love Fest 2021, Rare Pairs RHM Read for LoveFest</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>On Protons and Poetry</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlie9646/gifts">Charlie9646</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was written for Love Fest 2021.<br/>#LF2021 #TeamVenus<br/>Many thanks to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/adavison/profile">adavison</a> for quickly betaing this for me and for being so great.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When the final bell rang, Remus Lupin watched as his students filed out of the room for their summer holiday. He was envious of them. They all seemed excited about something: the new person they liked signing their yearbook with the words "love", the summer job they had that would help them save up for a car, the trip they'd take with their parents, or just to be lying around and doing anything but school. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All of his students, bubbled with something he no longer had—youth. They weren't tired. That's what Remus was, he was tired. Being sick at a young age did that to you, even if you essentially beat it, even when your cancer was in remission, it didn't matter, you were still tired—constantly on edge, constantly aware of every twinge and ache and possible abnormality. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>On top of it all, Remus was lonely. He did it to himself, he wouldn't deny that. Following his diagnosis, he stopped allowing himself closeness to anyone. His friends tried—James, Lily, Sirius, they all tried. A year after officially being cleared of cancer, Remus simply couldn't bring himself to be around anyone, well almost anyone. There was one person: his colleague, Severus Snape. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Severus had told him, one day, that protons tend to repel one another. He had been grading one of his advanced physics classes essays, and he was tutting away, muttering under his breath, swearing at the students and their abysmal essays and their understanding, or lack thereof of physics. Remus, himself, didn't understand physics; he was more of a literature and history person. Curious and bored with his own rereading of </span>
  <em>
    <span>The Tempest, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he asked Severus what it was they weren't understanding. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two men had worked together for several years now, and had, overall, never interacted until recently. This wasn't a conscious choice on either's part. They weren't in the same department. They weren't even in the same building. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their friendship began at a faculty meeting, where Remus, late due to a parent chattering away over the phone, rushed into the library and took the first seat he found in the back, which just so happened to be next to Severus.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Severus, like when he graded, made snide remarks the whole meeting and Remus found himself stifling his laughter several times. A week later, during his planning, Remus wandered to the sciences building to find that they shared the same planning period. Leaning in the doorway of the man's classroom, the two chatted and Remus returned to his own classroom feeling a bit lighter than he had. Severus was cynical and sarcastic and pessimistic, but they shared a similar vein of humour and an even more similar, more prominent, vein of loneliness. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They'd fallen into a comfortable rhythm of sharing their planning together, sometimes lunch, and occasionally time in their classrooms after school. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This particular moment, the one where Severus lectured Remus on protons, was their first time being together outside of the classroom. Remus had been starving and dying for a pint by the end of the workday. That was just how teaching went some days, he had learned. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Severus begrudgingly agreed to go grab a pint but insisted upon grading—stating that he had far too many essays to justify not. Remus shrugged and said he refused to grade and left the school with a copy of a play under his arm and a stack of papers abandoned on his desk. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Remus was seated and halfway through a pint when Severus slid into the booth across from him.  He ordered whatever Remus was having and set about grading. Remus smirked to himself, watching his colleague grade. He enjoyed the way his brows furrowed as he thought, the way his nostrils flared a bit. Hell, Remus even liked how he held his pen—always the same black fine-point pen. Remus graded with whatever he could find on his desk. Severus was methodical and organized and Remus was anything but, and he found the way the man graded to be endearing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Truthfully, he liked Severus. Many times he thought of running his finger over his furrowed brow, coaxing it to relax. He wanted to kiss his neck, suckle on his ear lobe, feel the tension in his shoulders dissipate as he did so. Remus however didn't know how Severus felt about him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p><span>In high school, Severus had once dated Lily, the wife of Remus' good friend. However, Remus</span> <span>felt something when he was with him, and once, in confidence, he told Lily this. Lily confirmed that Severus was bisexual but very private in all aspects of his life; he was open about it, just quiet. To Remus, this meant that he had to be careful with the man, to not push him away. </span></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Remus tried to keep himself from smiling when Severus explained protons.  Severus showed the most emotion when he was lecturing, and Remus liked this about him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The other man took a long pull from his pint, draining it before he continued. “Typically, and I’m explaining this as plainly as possible, protons are far too similar, they have the same basic makeup, the same charge, and they repel one another. Right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Remus nodded, letting the words knock around in his brain, as he listened. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Due to this similarity, they repel one another. However…” Severus paused and gestured to the waiter, “Another. Yeah. The same,” pushing his empty glass to the edge. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Severus leaned forward now, his hands on the table, his fingers laced together. “If moved fast enough, they’ll overcome this repulsion. They’ll get just close enough…” He held up his index finger and his thumb, a small space between them. “So close, in fact, that a new force kicks in, not one that is repulsive, but one that attracts them—keeps them together.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The waiter set another pint on the table, Severus muttered, “Thank you.” He took another sip, and Remus noted that Severus seemed positively enthralled with what he was explaining. “Therefore, if you can get two protons close enough they stick together. They create a strong force.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Remus chuckled and Severus raised an eyebrow in inquiry, “How is that humorous, Lupin?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, Snape…” Remus retorted “It’s just...funny that it’s so poetic. You seem to believe those sorts of things are separate. Emotion and science, but you can’t deny it. That’s simply the most poetic thing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Remus waved his hand towards him and asked, “This...force. Where does it happen?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“At the very core. The centre of the proton,” Severus replied dryly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nodding he exclaimed, “Exactly. That </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>poetic!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A small, almost unnoticeable smile played at Severus’ mouth, “Alright. I’ll humour you. How so?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Beaming Remus just shrugged. “I’m sure you can figure it out. I’ve already got a poem about it,” and he tapped a finger against his temple with a smirk. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Severus sat back and let out a chuckle, “If you can write a poem about protons and strong force, I’ll take you out to dinner at the beginning of summer holiday.” He said this in a way that made it evident that he didn’t think Remus could do it. That he couldn’t see that the line between the sciences and the arts was often quite blurry. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Remus nodded, “It’s a date.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Perhaps it was because Severus had drunk a few too many pints or because he felt elated from just having lectured Remus, but the man shrugged and said, “Yeah, well. You have to write the poem first, Lupin.”  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he got home that evening, excited for the challenge, for the layer that Remus believed he removed, he set to work. He had two weeks to perfect it, and Remus thought that would be no challenge at all. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Within ten minutes of the bell ringing, the halls were quiet. Remus could hear other teachers in their rooms, pushings desks around, laughing, chatting together. A bit nervous, Remus pulled a sheet of paper from his bag and read over what he’d written. Pleased with it, he shoved it back into his bag before slinging it over his shoulder, and left his classroom, making his way to Severus’.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stood casually in the doorway as he usually did before entering. “Gone for the summer, Lupin?” Severus drawled carrying textbooks and stepping into the smaller room, a storage room, off of his classroom where all of his textbooks and lab equipment was kept. Remus took this as his cue to step inside and walked over and stood in that doorway.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just about. I have something for you,” he said with a hint of nervousness to his voice. He reached into his bag and handed Severus the sheet of paper, the one with the poem about protons on it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s this?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Your challenge, Snape.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Severus raised both eyebrows, not looking down at what was in his hand yet, “What challenge?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Remus glared at him, “The one where I write a poem about protons and you take me on a date.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I…” Severus pressed his lips tightly together, the slightest tinge of pink colouring his cheeks. </span>
  <span></span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“You what?” Remus inquired.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t suppose you would actually want me to take you out, Lupin.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Remus sighed, “Stop calling me, Lupin. And…” he looked down at his feet, shuffling them a bit against the linoleum tile. “Yeah. I do want you to.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Severus nodded, a look of concentration on his face. “Why? You’re...charming and funny and handsome and I’m none of those things.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Stepping into the other room, a much smaller area than the classroom, Remus found himself overwhelmed with how close they were, closer than they’d ever been. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They matched one another in height, Severus was maybe an inch taller, but Remus was broader. Severus was thin and long and lithe from running, and while Remus cycled on a stationary bike in his flat, he’d put on some weight since he’d stopped his treatments, something he was a bit self-conscious about. Remus’ had thick muscular thighs from the hours he put in on his bike, but his belly was soft, his shoulders and chest broad. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Severus was always clean-shaven, another opposite to Remus’ beard, a bit unkempt, and as he took in a breath, he could smell his minty aftershave. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clearing his throat, Remus said, “You are many things, Severus. All things I have come to...adore.” He hesitated at the last word, unsure how he would interpret it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You adore me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This time Severus stepped towards him. Easily, Remus could have grasped his hand or grabbed his neck to pull him to him. Instead, he nodded, looking down at their feet, not touching, but almost. “I do.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He heard Severus chuckled again and he looked up at him, “English teachers. So bloody romantic.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Remus chuckled at this, too, inching a bit further to him, he whispered, “So are you going to take me out or not? I wrote you blasted poem which you haven’t even bothered to read. Severus,” he said, letting his hand rest on the other man’s bicep, “I’m hurt. Truly.” His voice smooth with playful sarcasm. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Severus licked his lips and said, “I’ll read it later. When I’m alone. That way I can…” he paused, seeming to consider his words, “thoroughly enjoy it.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With Remus’ hand still on Severus’ arm, Remus tugged him a bit, inclining him to move towards him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You could always…” Severus said, “read it to me. I think I’d like to hear the words coming from those li—from you.”  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Searching his face, Remus leaned into him, their chests brushing together, their hips meeting. Severus put his hands on Remus’ hips and pushed him back gently against the bookshelf behind him. He let one of his hands rest on the shelf above Remus’ head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Remus took one hand and let a finger graze Severus’ jaw, looking into his eyes, so much darker than his own, “Remember if protons get too close…” his lips were mere inches from Severus’ now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Severus finished the statement, “They stick. I know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’re the protons,” Remus said, their mouths almost touching.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let me kiss you,” Severus whispered against his’ lips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m letting yo—” before Remus could finish the word, Severus’ lips were on his. Warm and needy. He groaned into Severus’ mouth when he opened it for him, their tongues sliding together. Remus sucked on his bottom lip, and let his hands come to the man’s neck, resting there gently. Their bodies were pressed together, their chests heaving in rhythm, the sounds of their gasps and moans coming together in unison, their hip bones locking together. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let’s get dinner. I want to take you out. Have you read me your poem,” Severus said breathlessly against his cheek. Smiling, Remus nodded.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Moments later, after they’d agreed upon a time for their date and where they were going and when Severus would pick him up. Severus rushed to kiss him again before he left his classroom. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Remus mused as he walked down the hall, heading towards his car, that it was indeed a strong force </span>
</p>
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